I recently met with Tom Carpenter, the City Attorney of Little Rock, Arkansas to understand how he is using technology to manage his office. WestlawNext easily stood out as the most important resource. As quoted by Tom, “I would give up everything before I would give up WestlawNext.” And the interview just continued from there…

“When you’ve got a research tool like WestlawNext, there is no reason not to be complete and thorough in your research,” says Tom. My office has been using WestlawNext for more than two years and it has made all the difference, helping my lawyers to be more productive and in-depth in their research on any particular issue.

Featuring Tom Carpenter, City Attorney

One of the things that I found immediately is that the search engine allows you to narrow your search and quickly come up with a conclusion to a legal issue. You are sure that the question and the answer are really to each other and not any broader than they have to be.

That efficiency and confidence is especially important when any given week can include a wide range of legal issues. Not a single case is the same. Getting all the relevant legal information – cases, statutes, and regulatory rulings from both the federal and state government – in one place is important and that’s another thing that WestlawNext does. Previously, it was very difficult to go through all of the information at one time. I would have to do one search and then a second search and even a third. With WestlawNext, all searches are done at once and the relevant information is on my screen at the same time.

It’s no wonder that WestlawNext is a nonnegotiable on my yearly budget. WestlawNext is the default provision on my operating budget – it is what I’ve got to have, and anything else comes after that.

Well, thanks Tom! We are happy to hear that WestlawNext has improved your practice.

About the Author

WestlawNext Marketing, Thomson Reuters

Kati Katzenmeyer is part of the WestlawNext Marketing team and has worked at Thomson Reuters since 2007. She graduated with a degree in Marketing Management and Spanish from the University of Saint Thomas. Outside of work, Kati enjoys spending time with her family, hanging out at the lake, and attempting new DIY projects.